Recover encroached government land

The government probably does not have an account of how much government land in Bangladesh has been encroached. News often comes in the media that such and such leaders have occupied government land or ‘enemy property’ by using political force. This process has been going on since independence. It is still going on and when the government changes, the land occupiers also change.

According to media reports published on Monday (March 17), a BNP leader has become the owner of government land through 'encroachment'. According to the reports, upazila BNP President Md Sahab Uddin encroached about 150 acres of government land at Bholaganj under Companiganj upazila in Sylhet. The local administration recovered the land from his possession by conducting a drive two years ago. Taking advantage of the changed political situation, he has again occupied the land on August 5 afternoon. Sahab Uddin, also the vice-president of the district BNP, has rented out the land to stone traders. However, Sahab Uddin has denied the allegations of encroaching government land.

The local administration said that the then government started the construction of a land port in Bholaganj at a cost of Tk 170 crore with the help of the World Bank. In addition, the Bangladesh Tourism Board and the district administration jointly undertook another project to develop tourism. In this situation, the local administration launched a drive to evict the encroachers from government land two years ago. However, on August 5, taking advantage of the political change, the place was encroached again.

If Sahab Uddin did not really encroach government land, why did the media raise allegations against him? Sylhet Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad has admitted that the land has been encroached. He told the media, “A drive will be launched soon to evict the encroachers from the government land. There was a case regarding the land. The verdict went in favour of the government. Action will be taken after reviewing the verdict quickly.”

Not only land, many people have encroached many things after the political change of August 5, some of which have been reported in the media, some have remained out of the news. The malpractice of encroaching government land, property, and sometimes private property by using political power has been going on in Bangladesh for a long time. It seems that might is right. Many government properties such as canals, rivers, mountains, and forests are being occupied by political leaders.

We want such incidents to be properly investigated. The culprits should be arrested. Government land should be recovered. Government land should be used for government purposes. Legal measures should be strengthened so that no person, especially political power, can encroach government land.